Literary Birthday – 12 April – Tom Clancy

Tom Clancy was born 12 April 1947, and died 1 October 2013

Top 10 Tom Clancy Quotes

Nothing is as real as a dream. The world can change around you, but your dream will not. Responsibilities need not erase it. Duties need not obscure it. Because the dream is within you, no one can take it away.

Two questions form the foundation of all novels: “What if?” and “What next?” (A third question, “What now?”, is one the author asks himself every 10 minutes or so; but it’s more a cry than a question.) Every novel begins with the speculative question, What if “X” happened? That’s how you start.

The difference between fiction and reality? Fiction has to make sense.

There are two kinds of people: the ones who need to be told and the ones who figure it out all by themselves.

I wanted to see my name on the cover of a book. If your name is in the Library of Congress, you’re immortal.

Books and movies are different art forms with different rules. And because of that, they never translate exactly.

Collaboration on a book is the ultimate unnatural act.

I think about the characters I’ve created and then I sit down and start typing and see what they will do. There’s a lot of subconscious thought that goes on. It amazes me to find out, a few chapters later, why I put someone in a certain place when I did. It’s spooky.

The only way to do all the things you’d like to do is to read.

Success is a finished book, a stack of pages each of which is filled with words. If you reach that point, you have won a victory over yourself no less impressive than sailing single-handed around the world.

Tom Clancy was an American author known for his espionage, military,and techno thrillers. Clancy’s breakthrough novel was The Hunt for Red October. 10 of Clancy’s books reached number one on the New York Times best-seller list. More than 50 million copies of his books have been sold and three have been made into films.